Supersonic apparatus



July 10, 1951 H. c. HAYES 2,559,618

SUPERSONIC APPARATUS Original Filed Sept. 10, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR Harvey CI Hayes ATTORNEY 2 Shets-Sheet 2 Y E N R O H A INVENTOR Harvey C. Hayes Patented July 10, 1951 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE 'SUPERSONIC APPARATUS Harvey C; Hayes, Washington, D. C. I Original application September 10, 1931, Serial No'. 562,183, nowPatentNo. 2,374,637, April 24,

1945. Divided and this application February 12, 1 945, SeriaLNo'. 577,398.

(Granted under the. act of March 3, 1883, as

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in supersonic apparatus and particularly to a construction which results in greater efficiency and reliability of sound transmitters and receivers mounted'to face in difierent directionstso' that sound energy may be transmitted or received in one of a plurality of directions.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a compound sound transmitter and receiver device comprising two sound generating surfaces one of which lies in a horizontal plane and the other lying in a vertical plane.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a novel housing structure for mounting sound transmitters and receivers having plural sound generating surfaces.

These and other objects of the invention will become more apparent from the detailed description which follows and from the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a vertical section of a preferred embodiment of a compound transmitter and sound receiver unit having both horizontally and vertically disposed sound generating surfaces. Fig. 2 is a novel arrangement for mounting the sound unit shown in Fig .1.

With sound transmitter units of the class described, sound energy, which is transmitted from the face of the sound generating surfaces, proceeds outwardly in a cone-shaped beam, the spread of which depends upon the ratio of the thickness to the diameter of the face of the surface and decreases as this ratio decreases. For certain purposes, it becomes desirable to direct the sound beam about a horizontal plane. Such is the case when the sound beam is used for intercommunication between ships or for locating by means of echoes any sound reflecting surface on or near the surface of the water. In other cases, it is quite desirable that the sound beam be directed vertically downward toward the sea bottom so that it may serve to determine the depth by measuring the time required for a sound pulse to be transmitted from the sound generating face to the sea bottom and return in the form of an echo to this face.

amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) Prior to this invention, it has been the standard practice to make two separate mountings through the ships hull when both vertically and horizontally directed beams are required. This doubles the hull work and can be avoided by'using a compound structure such as illustrated in Fig. 1. 7 1

Referring now to Fig. 1, the compound casing is indicated by numeral I ii, the upper half of which is designed to carry a vertically disposed set 'of plates and crystals 28 for projecting a horizontal sound beam; similarly, a set of plates and crystals 29 are disposed at" right angles to the plates and crystals set 28 for projecting a sound beam vertically.

Two separate leads l2- and 25 pass into the casing through Water-tight packing. Mechanically, each pair of plates is supported upon gaskets and provided with an air-space back of the inner plate closed in by a rubber ring 25, which also serves to press the two plates together.

For the purpose of this invention, it has not been deemed necessary to describe in detail the structure by which each of the horizontally and vertically disposed crystals sets are mounted since such construction has been thoroughly treated in my aforesaid parent application.

The upper part of the casing is provided with a shallow chamber or vertical tube 2? closed off water-tight from the main body and serves as a passage-way for lead 26 to the inner one of the pair of horizontally mounted plates and crystals set 29. For mounting the compound sound unit shown in Fig. 1 in the ship's hull, reference is now made to Fig. 2.

In Fig. 2 it is seen that the compound transmitter and receiver of Fig. 1 is mounted on the lower end of a periscope-like tube 34, that projects through a water-tight stufiing-box 30 in the top of a housing chamber 3| of cylindrical or dome shape, which is mounted on the ships bottom plating 35. This, with suitable hoisting apparatus 32, permits the compound sound unit to be raised or lowered as desired. Thus when the vertical plates and crystals set 28 is used to transmit the sound beam horizontally, the compound unit is lowered until the center of the plates and crystals set 28 is about three feet below the keel. In this position, gears 33 will become engaged so that the compound unit can then be rotated through 360 by means of handle 36. However, when it is desired to use the compound sound unit as a depth finder, in which case the horizontally disposed plates and crystals set 29 would be utilized, the compound unit would be in such a position that the outer surface of the lower of the two plates 29 is substantially coplanar with the outlet hole through the ships plating. This will be observed is the position shown in Fig. 2.

Thus the compound sound unit could normally be carried in the position shown in Fig. 2, 4

in which case it would always be in position for use as a depth finder, but when it was desired to transmit sound energy in a horizontal plane for intercommunication between ships, etc., the unit could be lowered below the hull as described above.

In conclusion, it is to be understood that the above description and accompanying drawings comprehend only the general and preferred embodiment of my invention, and that various changes in construction, proportion and arrangement of parts may be made within the scope of the appended claims, and without sacrificing any of the advantages of my invention.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

What is claimed is:

1. A supersonic signaling device comprising two sound generating surfaces, a compound casing adapted for mounting one of said surfaces in a vertical plane and the other of said surfaces in a horizontal plane, a housing chamber mounted on a ships bottom plating, a periscope-like tube projecting through a water-tight stufling-box in the top of the housing chamber, said casing being 3 mounted at the lower end of said tube, said tube being movable along its axis which is substantially 2 vertical, whereby the casing may be housed with the vertical generating surface within the housing chamber and the horizontal sound generating surface substantially evenwith the outlet hole through the ships plating or may be lowered until the vertical sound generating surface is substantially below its keel, and means for rotating said compound casing through three hundred sixty degrees.

2. A supersonic signaling device comprising two sound generating surfaces, a compound casing adapted for mounting the generating surfaces so that one of said surfaces lies in a horizontal plane and the other of said surfaces lies in a vertical plane above the former, a housing chamber for the compound casing open at the bottom and housing the casing with the vertical generating surface overlapped by a side wall of the chamber means and means for coupling said rotary driving means with the compound casing upon lowering of the latter.

, HARVEY C. HAYES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 989,250 Gray Apr. 11, 1911 2,374,637 Hayes Apr. 24, 1945 

